CAIRO: The newly launched Islamic channel, Al-Hekmah, started broadcasting its programs on NileSat on July 16 after being broadcasted on NourSat since its launch in February. The satellite channel wants to increase its viewing rates and deliver its message to a wider Egyptian audience. Al-Hekmah was initially launched on NourSat in order to educate the Muslim community about the proper teachings of Islam and its Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) and to eradicate false accusations made against Islam. Shortly after their launch, the channel decided that NourSat was not as competent as NileSat as far as reaching a wider Egyptian audience was concerned, according to Wessam Abdel Wareth, chairman of the board of directors of Al-Hekmah. The idea for the channel came following cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) were published in a Danish newspaper, which led Abdel Wareth to consider the reason behind this offence to the Prophet. He came to the conclusion that as long as the Muslim community is not fully familiar with the Prophet and his teachings, then the West would remains unfamiliar as well which would lead them to commit such offences. "I disapprove of media messages that say we want to improve Islam's image in the West, because Islam's image is always bright but we do need to improve our own knowledge of Islam, said Abdel Wareth. Abdel Wareth stressed the fact that the channel's main aim is not to spread the message of Islam to the West, but rather to better educate Muslims about their own religion. Al-Hekmah's programs are a variety of educational ones, documentaries, and others geared towards women and children. "The main purpose of the channel is clarifying the vision of Islam, to us first as Muslims, because we often miss the splendor of this religion, said Ibrahim El Yaaraby, member of the board of directors of Al-Hekmah. El Yaaraby added that we should take advantage of this age of technology, and use the techniques available in order to convey a certain message. The channel has recently launched a website, where its programs are broadcasted online for viewers all around the world. They are also hoping to reach more viewers in the Middle East by broadcasting from ArabSat at the start of the new Islamic year.
